First off, we have a little window between tours here to devote to booking house concerts and venues for 2018 and 2019. Please let us know if you would like to host us or know a venue or festival near you which we should approach! Thank you for your continued support!
We've been off the road for about a month now since our Canadian tour, and since arriving back in California, Laurel, her awesome mom, and her mom's talented handyman friend, Rick, put the finishing touches on Laurel's new teaching studio in the forest. Laurel has been teaching and practicing up a storm these last couple weeks and enjoying the wildlife that wander by, including lizards, two large families of quail, a multi-generational deer family, bunnies, birds, and squirrels. It's really opened up more space in our tiny house and made life a lot more comfortable for everyone to be able to relax, find inspiration, and appreciate time spent both together and alone. Here's a photo taken just after finishing. Can you find Laurel's mom peeking around the corner?
Dan has been working on “The Dan Frechette Songbook,” gradually uploading all of his 1400+ songs and compositions to Bandcamp.com. He has been enjoying digging through 25 years of archived recordings, finding gems to upload, and re-recording updated versions. Though Dan has released 28 albums on Bandcamp, there are still 500-600 great songs that have not been properly recorded. Dan's songbook will be available sometime in 2018 and include photos of the original drafts of each songs, lyrics, and recordings. It's an active archive which will be updated as Dan writes new songs. We're not sure what the Guinness Book Of World Records might be for biggest music release of all time, but Dan may be getting close. It's definitely a big job!
We're still test driving new material for a fourth album and will be performing a number of notable concerts in the next few months, starting with tour dates around Central and Southern California, and the Sierra Nevada foothills in late August. Please scroll down to check our dates below. We hope you'll be able to add one to your calendar or tell a friend to come see us perform!
And coming up in September, we are so thrilled to announce our first tour of Europe! Since meeting Laurel in 2013, Dan has always had a fantasy of bringing their love and music to Europe. Over the last few years we've had a few friends coming forward to recommend house concerts and venues "over the pond" and after hundreds of email inquiries and 6 months of basically having the logistics of this tour be our part time jobs, we are excited for our 18 concert tour of Europe.
We first land in Iceland where we look forward to overcoming jet lag and soaking in the hot springs, then on to Ireland, where we'll spend the better part of a week driving around the country, including and visit and concert in Dingle, Ireland.
The following week finds us playing a couple house concerts and a cafe in and around Paris, followed by a 7 night series over the course of Dan’s birthday week, locations stretching all the way up through Germany and into Denmark. Next, we'll be in UK for a few shows, playing in London, Nottingham (opening for fellow Canadian folksinger Eileen McGann!), Driffield, north Wales, and Liverpool. From there it’s a short flight over to Dublin for a few days of sightseeing, then back to California.
You can track our progress and join the fun by liking us on Facebook and joining the "Dan and Laurel in Europe!" Facebook event, where we will be posting updates as the tour unfolds.
Please find our European tour dates below and share with friends you know who may be interested in coming to a show. We're happy to give you more information regarding specific concerts as that information becomes available. Please just send us an email!
